Best Rear Shock Tower Brace

[CARPENTER 02]

Is anyone aware of a Shock Tower Brace that doesn't require welding or Drilling?  Similar to kooglewerks but without a battery tray?

 

Is such thing does not exist what's the best alternative? 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by CARPENTER 02

[visionaut]

IMO, the best is none. They’re not strut towers, they’re only shock towers. Much less loading, and not a weak spot on 02s re: chassis stiffness. Nice eye candy tho’, and you can mount stuff to the bar...

[calw]

A place to hang laundry?

[jp5Touring]

My 2002 came with the TEP style one that seems to be most popular. Battery is in trunk also. I don't recall seeing a bolt on style one besides the Kooglewerks one.    The battery and bar take up to much space I feel. 

My Son is a fabricator so I would like to make one that bows upward more as opposed to straight across and could be just bolt on.

Would move to a battery under the rear seat for more trunk room.   Not a priority but on the list some day.  

Edited January 22, 2021 by jp5Touring

[2002iii]

4 hours ago, CARPENTER 02 said:

Is anyone aware of a Shock Tower Brace that doesn't require welding or Drilling?  Similar to kooglewerks but without a battery tray?

 

Is such think does not exist what's the best alternative? 

 

If you look on Koogle works website they have one without the battery tray.

 

Mason Engineering used to make one for the 2002 but no more.

 

You could probably get a local welder to make you one.

[Son of Marty]

Or you could just throw a 5 pound piece of angle iron in the trunk and get the same effect.

[2002iii]

32 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Or you could just throw a 5 pound piece of angle iron in the trunk and get the same effect.

I've seen angle iron, plumbing pipe and  even a piece of 2x4 wedged in place.

[calw]

Bags of Sakrete that got left out in the rain tool long,  in the spare tire, well have a better effect when dropping off cars at the salvage yard.  Sorry, couldn't resist.

[roadhog0]

7 hours ago, visionaut said:

IMO, the best is none. They’re not strut towers, they’re only shock towers. Much less loading, and not a weak spot on 02s re: chassis stiffness. Nice eye candy tho’, and you can mount stuff to the bar...

This right here. Isn't needed. Just extra weight = slower

[gary32]

13 hours ago, CARPENTER 02 said:

Is anyone aware of a Shock Tower Brace that doesn't require welding or Drilling?  Similar to kooglewerks but without a battery tray?

 

Is such think does not exist what's the best alternative? 

 

Beautiful part what problem does it solve.

Edited January 22, 2021 by gary32
be nicer

[SydneyTii]

There’s so much conjecture on this question, kooglewerks is a lovely piece of kit, the TEP one by comparison is somewhat less elegant, I don’t see the issue with drilling the rear shock towers, they are simply a tube which passes through from the rear wheel well to the trunk and houses a shock, which btw requires a hole for the shock to be mounted so what’s a couple more? 

under the rear seat for a battery I get it, but not everyone can achieve this for many reasons. 
id get one made that clamps around the towers, or just bite the bullet and drill, there’s plenty of cars on here with drilled rear shock towers and one was a Turbo from memory.

Full disclosure.... I have a TEP one and I’m too chicken shit to mount it???? 

but I will one day?

[SydneyTii]

6 hours ago, gary32 said:

 

14 hours ago, CARPENTER 02 said:

Is anyone aware of a Shock Tower Brace that doesn't require welding or Drilling?  Similar to kooglewerks but without a battery tray?

 

Is such think does not exist what's the best alternative? 

 

Expand  

Beautiful part what problem does it solve.

 

Allows the Tii air intake to be modified to pick up air from the spot the battery sits in!

And is a useful tie off for your tool box, or a small annoying child?

[NYNick]

Why bother? And moving the battery is a waste of time as well these days. 

[pd_55]

I did the Top End Performance one, but did it strictly for the battery relocation and engine space. The previous owner of my car had the battery tray welded in and it was done poorly at best and the tray itself was janky. So wanted to clean up the engine bay a bit. The TEP brace is very nice and a pretty simple install. You would only do a rear brace if it had a battery tray and you wanted to relocate, in my opinion. Not sure how beneficial just a brace would be.

 

[SydneyTii]

6 hours ago, NYNick said:

Why bother? And moving the battery is a waste of time as well these days. 

I get that opinion, but if you need or want the space for a different air supply or other requirements then it’s not really a waste of time, under the seat makes sense, but it’s not always possible. The rear brace I believe has been shown not to be so much a brace as a battery holder as well.

Each to their own I guess, it doesn’t look so bad as a mod and can be easily removed.